


Snapshots

by throughtimeandstarlight (Scullystar)



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-21 00:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9522224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scullystar/pseuds/throughtimeandstarlight
Summary: Weeks back, Scully agreed to a photo shoot with her photographer friend. Mulder accidentally finds the pictures.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Little ficlet inspired by some actual photos of Gillian Anderson from the 90's.

"Damn it."

Mulder looked at his partner from the passenger seat of her Taurus. "What's up, Scully?"

 

"I forgot some paperwork back at my apartment."

 

"Is it vital?"

 

"No, but I'd like to have it just in case. You know me."

 

Mulder flashed a grin. "I do, I do. We're only a block away from your apartment. Swing back and I'll run up for you if you tell me where everything is."

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Just give me really good directions."

  
"Since when do you follow directions, Mulder?"

 

"There's a first time for everything."

 

 

Mulder let himself into his partner's apartment with the key he had come to know by heart was hers even amidst the jumble of keys hanging off his key ring. Closing the door not quite shut behind him with his foot, he flicked on the lamp next to the couch and went to grab the file Scully needed from her desk. The light cherry wood desk was neat and organized, but the file Scully needed was not sitting next to her keyboard like she had told him it would be. He opened the top side drawer, but note paper, pencils, and paperclips were the only thing there. No luck in the middle or bottom drawers. They were filled with medical texts and file folders sorted alphabetically, but not the one he was there for. He stood up and sighed. "Where would you leave a file you wanted to bring with you if you were packing for a car trip, Scully," he asked quietly to himself. If she had been planning to pack it, it was probably in her room. Mulder hesitated only a moment before walking down the hall to her bedroom. 

 

He turned on the overhead light and looked around. Under a pile of books on the bedside table a folder stuck out from the bottom. "There you are," he grinned triumphantly, snatching the file from under the books. Mulder opened the folder expecting the appropriate neatly-typed notes. A series of 8"x10" photos fell to the floor instead. Mulder stooped down to retrieve the pictures, gathering them up without really seeing them. As he stood back up, he shuffled through them and realized they weren't case photos at all, but close-ups of Scully. Softly lit by the sun, each one was a bit different but all of them were striking. His partner, messy haired, smiled mischievously at him from the photo in is right hand. In the photo in his left, she stood in a beam of sunlight with her eyes closed and her head tossed back. Scully's hair was styled differently, her make-up more dramatic than he'd ever seen her wear at the office. These were clearly professionally shot and Mulder swallowed hard as he sifted through the other photos in the set. To say that the camera loved Dana Scully was a severe understatement. He felt his face flush as he studied the last photo. Another close-up, Scully was lying propped up on her forearms, a white sheet across her breasts but her shoulders and back bare. She looked into the camera from under dark lashes through a curtain of coppery hair. Mulder traced the slight curve of her mouth with his index finger and let out a breath. This was a side of her he'd only ever imagined. 

 

If he had bothered to close the door properly, Mulder might have heard Scully come back into the apartment looking for him. "Mulder, what is taking you so long?" Scully's voice came from behind him breaking the silence and scaring him half to death. Mulder's heart thudded in his chest and he spun around, wide-eyed, to face his partner. Scully's confusion lasted no more than a beat before she saw what her partner was holding. Her face went red, whether from anger or embarrassment she couldn't be sure. Snatching the photos out of Mulder's hand, Scully opened a drawer in the bureau next to her, shoved the photos inside, and slammed the drawer shut. "What the hell are you doing snooping around in my bedroom, Mulder? I asked you to get paperwork off my desk!" Mulder held his hands up in front of him. "Scully, look, I'm sorry...the file wasn't on your desk, I checked. I only came in here because I thought you might have brought it in here with you planning to pack it and I saw that folder next to the bed. I wasn't snooping, I swear." Scully took a deep breath and glared at him like she was going to shoot him where he stood.

  
_"This is how I die_ ," Mulder thought to himself.

 

After a few more deep, even breaths, Scully looked down and surprised Mulder by smiling as she shook her head and took the photos out of the drawer she had shut them in. 

 

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," she said, surprising him yet again by holding the stack of pictures out to him. Mulder took them from her hand but kept his eyes on her. "You don't have to apologize, Scully. I shouldn't be in your bedroom without express permission."

 

"True," Scully agreed, "but it was my own embarrassment that made me upset, not because you did anything wrong. You offered to do me a favor, I gave you wrong information. The file was on the kitchen counter."

 

Mulder smiled back at her and allowed himself one more look at the photos. "I might be overstepping here, but you don't have anything to be embarrassed about, Scully." He held up one of the the pictures. "The camera clearly loves you."

 

Scully ducked her head and smiled again. "Thanks, Mulder. My friend Hope is a photographer and convinced me to pose for a shoot a few weeks back. Just for fun." 

 

"Tell your photographer friend Hope that she's gained a new admirer of her work."

 

"Mulder..." Scully said feeling her cheeks redden again.

 

"Actually," he said handing the photos back to her, "I think it's the model I'm really admiring."

 

Scully looked up at her partner expecting to find a teasing expression on his face, but he was looking at her with nothing but a soft sincere smile. She wasn't sure if this new wave of embarrassment was because Mulder had seen her photos or because of the way he was looking at her. "Well," Scully said, finding her voice, "we should probably get on the road, huh?"

 

Mulder nodded and took a step toward the door. "Yeah, we should probably get a move on."

 

Scully hit the light as she walked out of her bedroom behind Mulder. She waited for him as he retrieved the correct file from the kitchen, then locked her apartment door behind them.

 

"Do you think Skinner's going to be pissed," Mulder asked as they walked down the front steps of her building.

 

"About what?"

 

"An FBI agent moonlighting as a model might not go over well with the Skinman," he grinned.

 

Scully grinned back. "Shut up, Mulder..."

 

 


End file.
